Education

Helping Children Retain Knowledge throughout the Summer

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You’d be hard-pressed to find a child who doesn’t look forward to summer vacation. Even kids who genuinely enjoy school have a soft spot for summertime and all the freedom this season entails. Summer vacation provides students with an abundance of free time, allowing them to focus on having fun and unwinding from their daily grind. However, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. Spending a quarter-of-a-year outside of a classroom may be an attractive prospect to most children, but being away from school for such a long period can result in forgotten information, effectively undoing much of the progress made throughout the school year. To ensure that your kids are able to retain what they’ve learned over summer vacation, put the following pointers to good use.

Set Aside Time for Learning Each Day

Retaining knowledge throughout summer vacation won’t require a huge time commitment on the part of your children. Having your kids dedicate one hour each day to reviewing material from the previous school year and/or studying new material is a great way to keep their minds engaged and stave off forgetfulness. There’s a good chance your kids will try to fight you on this at first, but after a week or two, they’re likely to accept daily study time as a part of their summertime routine. To provide additional incentive, consider offering your children small rewards for engaging in study time without protest.

Enroll Your Kids in Summer School

Not all children attend summer school to make up for a poor academic performance during the school year. Certain summer school courses are designed to go beyond what was taught in the previous year’s classes and enhance students’ understanding of a variety of subjects. So if your kids do their best learning in a structured environment, summer school may be worth considering, regardless of how good their regular grades are. When searching for the ideal summertime learning environment for your children, remember that structure is a staple of an effective summer school curriculum.  

Encourage Daily Reading and Writing

During summer vacation, most children give very little thought to reading and writing. Since both of these activities are commonly associated with school, it’s hardly surprising that so many kids avoid them during the summer months. While an extended break from classroom activities can certainly feel liberating, solid reading and writing skills will serve children well in many areas of life. With this in mind, require your kids to read at least one chapter of a book each day. Furthermore, task them with keeping summer journals and writing at least one entry per day.  

There’s little wonder as to why children relish every second of summer vacation. Freedom from daily obligations and seemingly unlimited leisure time are luxuries that no child would pass up. Unfortunately, the lack of structure many children experience during this period can undo a substantial amount of academic progress, ultimately leaving students ill-prepared to face the upcoming school year. Parents and educators looking to curb forgotten information should equip themselves with the tips discussed above.   

 

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